Slough has the highest prevalence of diabetes in the South East, with 8.9 per cent of people living with a diagnosis while the number of people diagnosed with the condition has increased by six per cent, to 10,491, since last year.

Vanita Dutta, commissioning support officer for cardiology and diabetes at NHS East Berkshire Clinical Commissioning Group said: “The Community Champions provide an invaluable link between the CCG and the community and will be an excellent way to spread messaging around type 2 diabetes prevention and self-care of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.”

“We are taking a holistic approach to Type 2 diabetes prevention in our region and the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DPP) and the Community Champions are an important part of that. We hope that the Champions will be one way to promote the NHS DPP in the community; they will be key in engaging those that may be at risk to take up the offer of the Programme if they are given the opportunity.

“As well as increasing take up in the Programme, we are working in partnership with the Champions to ensure the programme is fit for the community of East Berkshire; this will include working with us and service providers to ensure the content of the programme is relevant to BAME groups.”

Krishna Sarda, engaging communities manager from Diabetes UK, added: “We are delighted to have been commissioned by East Berkshire CCG to run the Community Champions programme in Slough. We are equally delighted to have six Community Champions now on board, with others in the pipeline to join.

“Community Champions are our ambassadors at a local level. They bridge the gap between local communities and healthcare settings, signposting people to services, and engaging with communities to help them understand their risk of diabetes and actions to take, whilst helping those diagnosed to get better health outcomes.”